Nucular

"Nucular" is a commonly used metathetic form of the word "nuclear". While it is usually regarded as a mispronunciation, and no dictionaries list this particular pronunciation as correct, several make mention of it because of its increased usage.[1][2][3][4]

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Merriam-Webster Dictionary receives enough questions about their mention of this mispronunciation in the dictionary that it is one of two mispronunciations which receive particular mention in their FAQ:

Though disapproved of by many, pronunciations ending in \-kyə-lər\ have been found in widespread use among educated speakers, including scientists, lawyers, professors, congressmen, United States cabinet members, and at least two United States presidents and one vice president. While most common in the United States, these pronunciations have also been heard from British and Canadian speakers.[5][6]

The pronunciation (noo'kyə-lər), which is generally considered incorrect, is an example of how a familiar phonological pattern can influence an unfamiliar one … [since] much more common is the similar sequence (-kyə-lər), which occurs in words like particular, circular, spectacular, and in many scientific words like molecular, ocular, and vascular.[2]

The colloquial pronunciation British /ˈnjuːkjʊlə/, U.S. /ˈn(j)ukjələr/ (frequently rendered in written form as nucular[...]) has been criticized in usage guides since at least the mid 20th century [...] although it is now commonly given as a variant in modern dictionaries.[7]

The Oxford English Dictionary '​s entry for nucular, representing the colloquial pronunciation, dates the first published appearance of the word to 1943.[8]

In his 1999 book The Big Book Of Beastly Mispronunciations, logophile Charles Harrington Elster noted that the vast majority of those he spoke with during the writing of his book as well as 99 percent of the 1985 usage panel of Morris & Morris' Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage specifically condemned the use of the word and characterized it as a mispronunciation. Elster's own view on the matter derives from the root of the word: "nucleus". Arguing by analogy, Elster suggests that "Molecular comes from molecule, and particular comes from particle, but there is no nucule to support nucular."[9][10]

U.S. presidents who have used this pronunciation include Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush[11] as well as U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale.[12] In his 2005 book, Going Nucular, linguist Geoffrey Nunberg suggests that the reasons underlying the differing pronunciations of this word may be different from president to president. Whereas Eisenhower's pronunciation most likely arose from his lack of familiarity with the word (having first learned it in mid-life), Bush's usage may represent a calculated effort to appeal to populist sentiment,[13] though this theory is rejected by linguist Steven Pinker.[12] This analysis is repeated in the second edition of Charles Harrington Elster's The Big Book Of Beastly Mispronunciations.[9]

Oxford Professor Marcus du Sautoy was heard to use it in a BBC documentary.[14] The actor and narrator Orson Welles said "nucular" while speaking at the 1982 "No Nukes" rally in New York City's Central Park.[citation needed]

Edward Teller, "father" of the American hydrogen bomb, supposedly used this particular pronunciation, and this usage is a limited tradition within the American nuclear research establishment.[15] However, a clip from a 1965 interview with Teller on the ill-fated Project Plowshare seems to contradict this claim.[16]

This pronunciation was also used by the animated character Skipper in the 2012 film Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted,[17] and Homer Simpson, in the popular American television animation series, The Simpsons,[18] as well as the character Indiana Jones in the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull after Indiana survives an atomic bomb test by crawling inside a lead-lined refrigerator. The pronunciation was also used by Peter Griffin during the episode "Da Boom" in the animated comedy series Family Guy, where he corrected Lois Griffin's correct pronunciation of the word.[19] In Woody Allen's 1989 film Crimes and Misdemeanors, the Mia Farrow character says she could never fall for any man who says "nucular."[20] In Starcraft II, the Ghost, a terran special forces unit who can call in a tactical nuclear missile, exclaims "Nucular launch detected" if he is clicked on repeatedly.

Steven Pinker has proposed[21] a phonotactic explanation for the conversion of nuclear to nucular: the unusual and disfavored sequence [kli.ər] is gradually transformed to a more acceptable configuration via metathesis.[citation needed] However, Arnold Zwicky notes that [kli.ər] presents no difficulty for English speakers in words such as pricklier. He also regards the proposition of metathesis as unnecessary. Zwicky suggests a morphological origin, combining the slang nuke with the common sequence -cular (molecular, particular, etc.).[22] Supporting Zwicky's hypothesis, Geoffrey Nunberg quotes a government weapons specialist: "Oh, I only say 'nucular' when I'm talking about nukes."[23] Nunberg argues that this pronunciation by weapons specialists and by politicians such as Bush – who are aware of the more accepted pronunciation – may be a "deliberate choice". He suggests that the reasons for this choice are to "assert authority" or to sound folksy.